The baker in the stormcage
by katniss pond
Summary: There is a new arrival in the stormcage. But who is he? why is he here? River wants to find out...
1. Chapter 1

River curled up on the floor of her cell with her diary, which she had smuggled into the stormcage after her latest adventure with the doctor, a pile of books by her side. Despite the gloomy surrounding of the stormcage, life was great again. She had her diary and enough books to last her at least until she next saw the doctor, she had new, young guards to tease and, having sent her old torturer completely mad, she had a week without people trying to break her while they found a new one. As she started a new paragraph, she heard footsteps, voices. Hastily, she hid the book under the loose brick in the corner of the room and peered through the bars.

Six strong guards marched through the eerie corridor to the music of tortured screams. Judging by their white uniforms, they weren't stormcage guards though. Probably made some deal with the stormcage officials, she thought. After all, stormcage had one of the best torture facilities in the universe and was supposedly inescapable. Not anymore, she smiled, craning her neck to see who the new prisoner was. It was a boy, of about 16, with blonde hair, tanned skin and a distant look in his deep blue eyes. He was shivering uncontrollably, and as he walked, she heard the clunk of a prosthetic leg.

River sighed, they get younger and younger, she thought.

Her head turned at the sound of a new voice. "…And remember, no scars, we need to keep him relatively presentable for the cameras, so break him mentally and hand him back to us as soon as possible." The speaker had snow white hair, puffy, overblown lips and had had way too much botox.

His eyes searched the room, glinting with malice. Suddenly, he looked right at her. She held his gaze, his eyes so snake-like; she almost expected to see fangs dripping with poison. Somewhere in her, some distant recognition made her blood run cold.

She knew this man

she knew this boy

she knew what would happen

As she looked away, River knew she would have to escape again. However, this time she wouldn't be alone


	2. the broken eyes pt1

Once the men had gone, River slipped out of her cell and crept silently along the corridor, her bare feet padding across the cool marble. She found the boy's cell and peered in. She was met with a blinding light. Shielding her eyes, she saw him. He was sitting in the corner of the room, hugging his prosthetic leg, a broken look in his deep blue eyes. "Hello sweetie!" River purred softly. He backed deeper into the corner f his cell, terrified at the thought of more torture. Then she saw the blood: seeping through his shirt, on the wall, on the floor. Nice one stormcage, River thought. "I'm not going to hurt you," She walked towards him as if confronting an unruly puppy or frightened pony. Sitting down next to him, she reached out and touched where the blood made a deep scarlet patch on his shirt. He recoiled at her touch, pain flashing through his face. "Shh, it's ok let me see." She lifted the corner of his bloodstained shirt. The skin underneath was scarred around a deep wound, oozing blood. She barely flinched. This was a trademark cut of the General Caley, a retired general who ran the stormcage. It was deep enough to inflict unbearable pain but not deep enough to kill or cause any form of paralysis and the blade was washed in a poison that made the cut burn like crazy but never do any extra damage. Usually he would live, she decided, but the fact that the flesh around it was turning purple was not a good sign.

"Wait there," she said hoping she could find help in time


	3. peacemakers?

River rushed silently down the hall, fished her vortex manipulator from her cell and went to graffiti a painting from the renascence for the Doctor to find. Ten minutes later she had returned with Rory's first aid kit which she had taken quickly from the pond's house. She rarely used the vortex manipulator as the stormcage could track it and she could only override the system for a few minutes. But this was an emergency. She didn't know why but something, some distant part of her told her this boy had to live and that meant she might have seen him in one of her other regenerations. If that was true, she had known he was important and who was she to argue? He was certainly too innocent to be a typical stormcage prisoner.

"I'm back sweetie!" River said softly. Already he looked much worse. He stared beyond her, face chalk white. River opened the first aid kit and went through the information leaflet. Anaphylaxis? Maybe. After reading a few more pages she gave up and got out the anaphylactic medicine. It was a tube with an orange tip. She stuck the needle into his leg. As she pulled out the needle he started shacking uncontrollably. River groaned in frustration and threw the needle at the wall. Why couldn't she help him? Wouldn't have been so much easier to kill him?

Suddenly she heard the guards come running. River hid the needle and the kit then put on her hallucenajellic lipstick, hoping it was some of those new guards, what were they called? Peacemakers or something? "Hello boys!" she purred as they burst into the cell. "Step away from the boy… What have you done to him?" Gasped the head guard. It was a small patrol of six. They had walked straight into her trap. River smiled "let's just say I have a dramatic effect on boys like you." She strolled past the bewildered guards and shut the cell door. "What do you mean?"

"You're about to find out!" and with that she gave him a full on kiss. He staggered back, eyes glazing over. Soon, the last guard as backing away from River. "Didn't they warn you about me?" the guard backed into the wall.

"Who are you?"

River laughed "Your worst nightmare!"

The guards had never known the power of hallucinagellic lipstick before, so were soon under the illusion that River was their leader. "Go find the Doctor and bring him to me," river ordered. The dazed guards marched obediently down the corridor. River Bent over the boy. "Hold out a little longer sweetie, the Doctor's coming!"


	4. The Doctor arrives

Ten minutes later the familiar wheezing of the TARDIS echoed in the corridor, Followed by a shout of "what!" and the sound of heavy footfalls as the dazed guards marched in the Doctor in. River turned to see a new face on the man she loved. "Hello sweetie," the Doctor relaxed and laughed soon as he saw her. "why now, after all this time?" However, when he looked down, she was far from laughing.

"Listen we need to save this boy, there are rifts opening in time because he's in here as it is. If he dies, so will millions of innocent people. The whole of time will be rewritten!" The Doctor's face changed to an expression that made River imagine cogs whirring in his mind. He got out his screwdriver and scanned the now blue lipped boy. "A severe alien poisoning. We need to get him to Sisters of the Infinite Schism as soon as possible. How long can you stall the guards?"

"You know you don't need to worry about that." She called over the Peacekeepers. "Slip this into the food in the canteen," she ordered, handing them each a vial of black liquid. "That'll keep them all asleep for days."

A little later they finally materialised in the A&E department. The Doctor called over some nurses, who rushed the boy away on a stretcher. By the time they had got there he had lost consciousness twice, having to be revived by a distressed River and the adrenaline shots in Rory's first aid kit. She sunk down near the console as the TARDIS made soothing noises, trying to remind her that the boy was in good hands. Suddenly, River realised how tired she was. She curled up and fell into an uneasy sleep.


End file.
